Publications

August 2001 (Revised April 2002)
Case

Strategic Capital Management, LLC (A)

By: Mark L. Mitchell, Erik Stafford and Todd Pulvino

Strategic Capital Management, LLC, is a hedge fund that is planning to make financial investments in Creative Computers and Ubid. Creative Computers recently sold approximately 20% of its Internet auction subsidiary, Ubid, to the public at $15 per share. Ubid's stock... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Business Subsidiaries; Internet and the Web; Investment Funds; Price; Performance Efficiency; Capital Markets; Auctions; Investment Return; Equity; Planning; Financial Services Industry

November 2014 (Revised March 2015)
Case

Disrupting the Meat Industry: Tissue Culture Beef

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Matthew G. Preble

Dr. Mark Post and his team at Maastricht University were perfecting their tissue culture beef product—made entirely from muscle grown in his lab—to give it the same taste, texture and appearance of a traditional beef hamburger. A previous iteration of this product had... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Beef Production; Environmental Impacts Of Food Production; Agribusiness; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation and Invention; Environmental Sustainability; Food; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Netherlands; United States; United Kingdom

November 2009 (Revised August 2010)
Case

NovoCure Ltd.

By: William A. Sahlman and Sarah Flaherty

Venture capitalist William Doyle must raise $35 million for a portfolio company with a promising, novel cancer therapy, just as global capital markets are imploding in the fall of 2008. NovoCure, Ltd., has developed an electrical-field-based therapy, called Tumor... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Investment; Health Care and Treatment; Health Testing and Trials; Technological Innovation; Financial Services Industry

March 2008 (Revised June 2008)
Case

The Broad Institute: Applying the Power of Genomics to Medicine

By: Vicki L. Sato and Rachel Gordon

In June 2003, Harvard University and MIT announced an unprecedented partnership to create a biomedical institute, The Broad Institute. The culture of the Broad centered on science, and those involved considered it to be at the edge of the scientific frontier. In just... View Details

Keywords: Education; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Partners and Partnerships; Research and Development; Genetics

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Where Main Street Meets Wall Street

market's record-setting rampage, the industry's asset growth has been driven by baby-boomers using mutual funds as a means to build their retirement nest eggs. A snapshot of... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons; Financial Services

March 2023 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Tribal Councils Investment Group of Manitoba Ltd.

By: David L. Ager

In the Fall of 2014, Heather Berthelette, the recently appointed COO of Tribal Councils Investment Group of Manitoba Ltd. (TCIG), was preparing a recommendation to the Board of Directors about whether to dissolve the company and return any remaining funds to the seven... View Details

Keywords: Indigenous Communities; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Social Enterprise; Economic Growth; Investment Banking; Canada

January 2016 (Revised August 2019)
Case

From Preparatory Academy to National Flagship: The Evolution of Tsinghua University

By: William C. Kirby and Joycelyn W. Eby

Tsinghua University is one of the most prominent universities in China, and, increasingly, in the world. Its evolution to this position reflects the major developments in Chinese history—outward looking internationalism in the 1920s and 1930s, creative survival in the... View Details

Keywords: University Administration; University Curriculum; University Faculty; World-class Universities; Higher Education; History; Governance; Education Industry; China; Beijing

May 2014
Article

How to Outsmart Activist Investors

By: Bill George and Jay W. Lorsch

We offer opinions on how management and corporate boards of directors can best manage investor relations with activist stockholders such as hedge funds who are demanding major changes within a corporation to improve stockholder return. Beverage industry firm PepsiCo is... View Details

Keywords: Investment Activism

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June 2009 (Revised February 2010)
Case

Cirque du Soleil -- The High-Wire Act of Building Sustainable Partnerships

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Maxime Aucoin

The case describes the history and business model of Cirque du Soleil (CdS). The case allows for a rich discussion and analysis of Cirque du Soleil's business model with an emphasis on how it interacts with that of MGM Mirage. Le Cirque and MGM's business models... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Investment; Profit; Globalized Markets and Industries; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Partners and Partnerships; Trust; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

Web

Agents of Change: The Founding of the AASU - The Golden Age of Black Business

Herndon returned to Atlanta to oversee the growth of the Atlanta Life Insurance Company (today the Atlanta Life Financial Group), founded by his father Alonzo. Herndon continued his family's tradition View Details

February 1993 (Revised June 2011)
Case

David Fletcher

By: Linda A. Hill and Melinda B. Conrad

David Fletcher, manager of the Emerging Growth Fund at a New York investment management firm, decides to assemble a team of analysts to which he can delegate part of his workload. The case explores the challenges of being a producing manager and Fletcher's efforts to... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Groups and Teams; Management Teams; Investment Funds; Management Style; Selection and Staffing; Financial Services Industry; New York (city, NY)

May 2025
Case

RTX's Lifetime Income Strategy: Shaping the Future of Retirement

By: Daniel Green, Luis M. Viceira and Sarah Mehta

Set in 2024, this case explores the Lifetime Income Strategy (LIS), a novel retirement product launched by aerospace and defense company RTX in 2012. Aiming to embed the security of a traditional pension within a 401(k) plan, the LIS allowed participants to secure a... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Compensation and Benefits; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Jobs and Positions; Labor; Retirement; Society; Adoption; Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry; United States; Virginia

December 2013
Case

Clique Pens: The Writing Implements Division of U.S. Home

By: Frank V. Cespedes and James Kindley

The Clique Pens Writing Implements division of U.S. Home is a manufacturer of a full line of pens, pencils, markers, and art supplies. Despite solid sales, division president Elise Ferguson has seen gross margins drop from 42% in 2010 to just over 36% in 2012 as a... View Details

Keywords: Production; Marketing Strategy; Distribution Channels; Compensation and Benefits; Sales; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry

January 2008 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Restructuring at Delphi Corporation (A)

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

Delphi Corporation, operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, has filed a plan of reorganization with the court, under which a consortium of hedge funds led by Appaloosa Management will invest up to $2.6 billion in new equity. Also participating in the plan is... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Capital Structure; Private Equity; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Investment Funds; Labor and Management Relations; Auto Industry; Auto Industry

In 2014, the Allergan Inc. board of directors received a surprise takeover offer from Valeant Pharmaceuticals in alliance with hedge fund activist Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management. In the unprecedented arrangement between an acquirer and a hedge... View Details

July 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors: Bringing Systematic Investment to Philanthropy

By: Lauren Cohen, Hao Gao, Alexander Bischoff and Sophia Pan

Melissa Berman, CEO of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA), evaluated her client’s philanthropy project and its mediocre performance. RPA was a segment of the Rockefeller Family Office’s Philanthropy Department, becoming an independent charity in 2002. Consistently... View Details

22 Apr 2024
Research & Ideas

When Does Impact Investing Make the Biggest Impact?

have funded anyway. Impact investors funded 6,066 firms in 8,125 rounds, representing about 2 percent of all venture capital and growth equity... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

15 Nov 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Do Fire Sales Create Externalities?

Keywords: by Sergey Chernenko and Adi Sunderam; Financial Services; Banking

August 2024 (Revised October 2024)
Case

Discerene Group: Long-Term Public-Markets Investing

By: Luis M. Viceira and Brent Schwarz

This case discusses active investing based on fundamental valuations and price distortions created by market events, and whether contractual terms between investment managers and their investors can help align incentives between long-term investors and active managers.... View Details

Keywords: Financial Strategy; Investment Funds; Valuation; Financial Markets; Financial Services Industry; Connecticut